Free Republic

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Oct. 26 voted unanimously to bar a leading Chinese state-owned telecommunication firm’s U.S. arm from operating in the country.China Telecom Americas, a subsidiary of China Telecom, now has 60 days to discontinue services after having operated in the United States for two decades.The FCC voted 4-0 to terminate China Telecom America’s license to provide domestic and international services within the United States. The regulator said the firm “is subject to exploitation, influence, and control by the Chinese government” and is “highly likely” to comply with Beijing’s orders.The decision concluded more than a year of...

I very seldom post anything but this is important. I have been working in high tech for over 40 years and have branched out into network security as a hobby. This weekend me and my support team discovered by accident FB can monitor your non-phone conversations by accessing your smartphone microphone. We are also positive that they are sharing this information within the FB organization and highly likely selling the info to other parties. This affects FB, Instigram, WhatsApp and FB Marketplace so far that we know. The fix is you MUST disable microphone access on ALL of these apps...

A last Friday deadline for Los Alamos National Lab employees to get vaccinated has come and gone, with a judge on the same day denying a request by 114 employees there to block the nuclear lab’s vaccine mandate from taking effect.In the last days the employees, including top nuclear engineers and scientists, have literally taken to the streets outside the lab, protesting the mandate which orders them to get their first dose of the Covid vaccine or face termination. Concerning the lawsuit filed by the employees, The Hill wrote earlier that "Workers at the New Mexico laboratory, which created the...

We’ve seen the rampant disruption being caused by vaccine mandates such as those being pushed by Joe Biden.But, it isn’t only disruption that’s being risked here. It’s the very security of the nation: from the safety of our streets to the safety and defense of the country as a whole.The mandates are endangering the jobs of people who play vital roles in protecting Americans.Imagine the insanity of what they’re doing right now in Chicago. The deadline was yesterday for all police, fire, and other city workers to “report their vaccination status.” The police union is fighting the mandate, and officials...

Over the last six years American Internet security researchers have come to realize that much of the data stolen by Chinese hackers could be obtained, without breaking any laws, from commercial data brokers. While “data privacy” is often a major political issue few of these prominent critics seemed to realize that most of this data was available from commercial firms long before the government began building their own computerized personnel databases, which were subsequently stolen by foreign hackers. Collecting such data for commercial purposes has been going on for over a century. American firms pioneered the business of selling to...

The internet connectivity on older tech devices and smart gadgets could stop working on Thursday after a key digital certificate required to access websites safely expires. Let's Encrypt, a nonprofit organization that is the largest issuer of digital certificates — which encrypts and protects the connection between devices and websites on the internet — will be forced to expire one of its most popular digital certificates, the IdentTrust DST Root CA X3, on Sept. 30.... ...This problem has flown under the radar of many manufacturers, including Big Tech companies Apple, Google, Sony, and Microsoft — none of which have made...

I have bad news and good news. I'll save the good news for the end -- because you need to know there is hope. The bad news is that the country is on fire, thanks to the brain-dead, feeble, old man with dementia (aka resident Joe Biden). If you don't believe me, just see the 14,000 Haitian migrants hiding under a bridge in Texas, now released into America by Biden. That should help the COVID-19 pandemic. But the worst is yet to come. I'm referring to Biden's vaccine mandate. This is the most dangerous threat to our national security in...

WASHINGTON — The cost-of-living-adjustment for Social Security recipients next year remains on track to be the biggest in decades, according to the latest estimate from a non-partisan advocacy group for senior citizens. The annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is announced in October by the Social Security Administration. The Senior Citizens League said Tuesday it expects COLA for 2022 to be 6% to 6.1%, based on consumer price data through August. One more month of data will be factored into the final calculation before its announced by the Biden administration. If the 6.1% estimate holds, it would be the highest...

The United States, the UK, and Australia on Sept. 15 announced a new trilateral security partnership for the Indo-Pacific, amid rising Chinese assertiveness in the region.The first move under this partnership, called “AUKUS,” would be for the United States and the UK to help Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines, according to a joint statement by the three governments.The new security alliance was announced by President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison during a joint virtual press conference from each of their capitals.“We all recognize the imperative of ensuring peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific...

During a press conference, Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie said that the United States “shares a common purpose” with the Taliban terrorists, admitting they are “useful to work with.”McKenzie was asked about staying after the August 31 deadline, the date agreed upon to withdraw all the troops, American civilians, and U.S. Afghan allies. He was concerned about threats since the military and the Taliban have been coordinating on various things.The Marine Corps General said, “As to whether or not I trust them, that’s not necessarily a word I’d use very carefully,” adding “it’s not what they say. It’s what...

T-Mobile continues to investigate a data breach from the past week that compromised the personal information of tens of millions people, and not just active subscribers. The data includes names, driver's license numbers, Social Security numbers and device identification (IMEI and IMSI) numbers for subscribers, former customers, and prospective customers who may have been interested in T-Mobile service at one point. And the breach includes customers of Metro by T-Mobile too. That means almost anyone who has given their information to T-Mobile could be affected.

Another Saigon moment: chaotic scenes at Kabul International Airport. No security. None. https://twitter.com/saadmohseni/status/1427000691407654914

Lester Holt talking about the terror threat alert. Credit: NBC.Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security just issued a terror threat advisory which is raising some eyebrows.Listen, as Lester Holt and Pete Williams describe how the “terror threat advisory” isn’t based on any actual threats or plots, but just a lot of “anti-government rhetoric” that includes things like “opposition to COVID measures” like masks and vaccine measures.MUST WATCH: Homeland Security hasn't based the new "Terror Threat Alert" off of actual threats or plots… just "anti-government rhetoric" that includes "opposition to COVID measures" … aka FREE SPEECH.Protesting your school board's mask mandates...

Female journalists and activists say they had their private photos shared on social media by governments seeking to intimidate and silence them. Ghada Oueiss, a Lebanese broadcast journalist at Al-Jazeera, was eating dinner at home with her husband last June when she received a message from a colleague telling her to check Twitter. Oueiss opened up the account and was horrified: A private photo taken when she was wearing a bikini in a jacuzzi was being circulated by a network of accounts, accompanied by false claims that the photos were taken at her boss’s house. Over the next few days...

The new domestic “War on Terror,” kicked off by the riot on Jan. 6, has prompted several web giants to unveil predecessors to what effectively could become a soft social credit system by the end of this decade. Relying on an indirect hand from D.C., our social betters in corporate America will attempt to force the most profound changes our society has seen during the internet era. China’s social credit system is a combination of government and business surveillance that gives citizens a “score” that can restrict the ability of individuals to take actions — such as purchasing plane tickets,...

Last night, masked men arrived at the industrial area in Hatzor Haglilit, sawed off one of the gates and threw a Molotov cocktail that caused a large fire and complete destruction in three large businesses in the area. The head of the Hatzor Haglilit local council, Shimon Suissa, addressed the prime minister and the Minister of Internal Security, saying: "The State of Israel is losing the Galilee. One at a time, businesses, agricultural plots, industrial complexes are being harmed, with no end in sight. I call on the PM and the minister of internal security to address the wave of...

There is a lot of attention being paid to continuously updating servers to patch security vulnerabilities on Linux servers running in data centers – a basic step underpinning technology infrastructure in every industry. Yet, staff resources to deal with maintaining servers are not sufficient to meet the workload, said 55% of respondents in a worldwide survey by CloudLinux. Dealing with insufficient staff resources with automationThe survey finds 76% are deploying automated patching procedures and that live patching to fix vulnerabilities is commonly used (47%) to avoid downtime that is normally associated with patching. This is not surprising given the volume...

July 20th marks the six-month mark of the Biden presidency, and look at what his administration has wrought on the border. What’s occurring is simply mind-boggling, though not surprising. The numbers are way up, at least a million have crossed so far, and thousands of foreigners are being resettled in the United States.

Gov. Kate Brown is one of nine governors that President Joe Biden appointed Thursday to serve two-year terms on his Council of Governors. The bipartisan council is intended to serve as the lead forum to strengthen partnerships between the federal and state governments to better protect the nation from security threats. Biden asked Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, to co-chair the panel.

An American 'mercenary' and former head of security at the Canadian Embassy in Haiti is among the six 'assassins' who have been arrested over the murder of President Jovenel Moïse, according to a government official. James Solages, a US citizen of Haitian descent and president of a local charity, was taken into custody over Wednesday's early morning raid on Moïse's mansion in the hills above Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Haiti's Minister of Elections and Inter-party Relations Mathias Pierre told the Associated Press. Solages is the 35-year-old president of the board of directors of Jacmel First, a charity founded in south Florida in...